Posts tagged “blogging”

So, to be honest I usually find other people’s posts about their goals or resolutions pretty blah. I feel that writing about mine is similarly boring, but I really want to document my goals so that I can be accountable to them at the end of the year. Don’t get me wrong, I am excited for the upcoming year and eager to do some new things. In fact, I’ve already jumped in and started working on some of the things on my list.

It’s just writing this post that I’ve been procrastinating about. So, better just get it over with, so I can cross it off my ever expanding to-do list.

Here are my goals for 2013

Goals 2013

1. Write a blog every other week

2. Establish a portion of my proceeds to charity

3. Advertise

4. Explore and document what I want from my business (now and long term)

5. Explore selling in a store

6. Try two new markets

7. Clean house – out with the old – jewelry line and ceramics

8. Increase my total item views on Etsy by 50%

9. Increase my sales $ on Etsy by 50%

10. Make a profit!

11. Explore and test new products – in with the new

12. Optimize my Etsy shop (photos, key words, descriptions)

Some of these goals are repeats from last year, with some slight changes.

I scaled back on my blog postings because I wanted to be a little more realistic with what I feel like doing. That’s going to be a big theme for me this year – pay attention to what I feel like doing. I want this to be fun, not a chore. So, I’m going to try to be more aware of how certain things make me feel, so that I can increase the time I spend doing those things that make me feel good and decrease those that seem like a duty (thus the decreased goal on blog posts, since I often feel that it’s a chore rather than fun).

I think this year will be one of getting my Etsy store back on track, refining my brand while exploring new additions. In order to do this, I’m going to do some serious soul searching about what my brand is and where I want it to go.

blah, blah, blah, blah

Enough with the boring goal talk, I’m going to go do something fun!

Taking pictures is fun! This is a photo I took in high school. This year, I want to take and share more photos.

Well, it’s taking me a while to package up 2012 so I can move on to 2013 and I am finding myself very eager to move on, so…

Here’s a quick recap of how I did on my 2012 goals:

Goals 2012

Actual

1. Write a blog every week

29 out of 52

2. Establish a percentage of my sales of certain products to charities

nope

3. Create a wonderful booth display

yup

4. Create 10 new designs (any product)

nope – 5

5. Explore new marketing possibilities and try at least two

search ads, nothing else

6. Sell at 5 local craft markets

7 markets!

7. Figure out what to do with my now defunct jewelry line

nope

8. Increase my total item views on Etsy by 50%

almost – 41%

9. Increase my sales $ on Etsy by 50%

nope, down by 15%

10. Make a profit!

questionable

I did great with my blogs at the beginning of the year and about halfway through I really started slacking off and it went downhill from there. I have no real excuse except that I lost my commitment and just let it slide.

My most viewed post this year was Bowl Breaker

I definitely explored the world of craft fairs this year and worked out several cool displays. I feel like my craft fair experience, although not lucrative, was definitely an area of growth for me in 2012.

My best craft show was the HaHo (Denver Handmade Homemade)

My coolest new design from this past year was my pirate bat, but unfortunately I haven’t even gotten my bat shirts listed in my shop yet….

Shiver me timbers, it’s Feisty Bat!

Marketing wasn’t even on my radar.

All my jewelry and supplies are still taking up lots of space in my studio. I think about them often but never take any definitive action.

Did good on increasing my views on Etsy, although I have to be honest that I totally neglected my Etsy shop this year. Maybe this contributed to the fact that my Etsy sales were down.

Not sure about overall profit until I do my taxes, but I’m still optimistic!

Okay, now for the exciting part, new goals for this year! Out with the old and in with the new, I feel a change in the air!